If Only

Every year since I was four I have attended some sort of educational facility; whether it be a day care or the Governor’s School, I have been learning in an organized educational building since I can remember. And most children, especially Americans, really take this privilege, no this right, for granted. This really frustrates me! Being an American I feel like these students give our country a bad name. So many less fortunate children have nowhere near the same facilities, teachers, and equipment to get the kind of education that Americans receive. But it gets worse, after having all of this lovely free education we complain about having to actually go to school and receive this education.

It is in our media, in our movies, and in the students themselves this laziness when it comes to being educated. These students end up on the news because they threatened a bomb on the school just to receive a cancellation. Or the students on movies that “pretend” to be sick to get out of class. Now I won’t lie I have had a few of those days. The days that you know you can’t handle one more day of school or you are just going to explode or just have a mental breakdown. But I get up and keep going knowing that if I just take this one more class than my parents won’t have to work so hard to help me pay for college. Or I will be able to actually go somewhere in this world and understand the things around me.

If only more students could grasp the concept of FREE education then maybe it could help educate America and help Americans realize that education is a good thing. It will help us grow and maybe to an even greater country that is more accepting of people and other cultures.

I am 17 years old and I have always felt that I was less privileged than my friends in the money department. But I realize if I can just get a good education, which I will have to work hard for, than I will be able to go just as far as they do. If only I could just respect these privileges that I am given then I can go somewhere in this world.

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.